Batavia limits water use for proposed $500 million data center

Developers of a $500 million data center looking to build in Batavia have promised an efficient cooling system to cut down on water usage, which the city has capped at 1,000 gallons per day.

The Batavia City Council recently amended an agreement with Miami-based energy and digital infrastructure company Hut 8 Corp. to provide water to the data center.

As part of a contract the city council approved Sept. 2, the data center will be limited to 1,000 gallons of water per day on average.

Despite assurances from developers and the limit imposed by the amendment, some continued to voice concerns over the data center’s water consumption, while others said the topic has been blown out of proportion.

Mayor Jeff Shielke said the proposal still has a long way to go before final approval. He was not concerned with water usage but said many questions remain unanswered.

“A year from now, this could be off the table and be gone if it doesn’t continue to go in a way we think is right,” Shielke said. “We’ve got a lot of firetrucks in town that carry 1,000 gallons of water on them. In the context of things, in my opinion, that’s not a lot of water.”

Hut 8 plans to build a 120,000-square-foot data center on the vacant industrial park lot at 1780 Hubbard Ave. Developers expect the center to be operational by winter 2026 and create about 30 new jobs.

While data centers using evaporative cooling systems require significant amounts of water each day, the closed-loop system Hut 8 intends to use would require far less.

Closed-loop cooling requires an initial load of about 450,000 gallons of ionized water, which must be discharged and refilled every 2,000 days. A Hut 8 representative has told city officials that developers plan to bring in ionized water by truck to fill the cooling systems.

These assurances did not satisfy some residents who spoke before the vote.

“The negotiations for the data center have missed, and continue to miss, many opportunities,” said Batavia resident Susan Russo, who is not against the proposal.

But the city failed to define its source of electricity, educate the public and engage energy experts in the process, she said.

Batavia High School student Kasey Hubert expressed concern over the council’s “hurried actions” on the data center agreement not giving residents enough time to become informed.

Per the agreement, the city will provide potable water and wastewater services to the data center, with meters to monitor the facility’s water intake and discharge to ensure it remains within the set limit.

Developers must next submit final data center plans to the plan commission for review.